How to have a lasting weight loss






When it comes to exercise and weight loss, first preference is given to running/jogging. People will swear by god that if anyone wants to loose weight then running is the way to go. Is that true?Yes,but only partial, here is the complete truth.
Running/jogging at medium pace will help you burn around 8-12 calories/min depending upon your weight. So if you jog for 30 min then it will consume about 250-300 calories. As per most weight loss experts, if you reduce your calorie intake by 250-300 calories /day then that makes it a deficit of about 500-600 calories. If you continue this way for about 3 months , you will loose around 5 kg. Sounds simple? Most people will say, yes.
But it's not that simple. When you get into such type of a program, there are couple of problems.

  1. Human bodies are so adaptive that they become habitual to anything. As weeks go by, you get accustomed to your training regime and it will burn less and less calories for same amount of exercise.Eg, if on day one your metabolic rate was, say, 9 calories/min, then after 4-5 weeks, for same activity, it will drop to around 6-7 calories/min. In short, for same amount of results you will have to increase your exercise time.
  1. When you run/jog it is not always the calories from fat that are burnt. Most of the times a good deal of muscles are also consumed in the process which is not the good sign for sustained weight loss. In this sense, weighing scale is a false indicator of your progress. Actual indicator is your waistline (And it took good deal of trial and error for me to understand this).
So for lasting results you need to loose only fat and retain muscle mass.  Your weight may increase after initial drop. Because with strength and conditioning your muscle mass increases and that shows on weighing scale. It is highly demotivating and most people give up at this juncture thinking that it is not possible for them to have a physique of their dreams.

Most of you must be wondering if not running/jogging then what else. How to loose those love-handles, that big belly, those round chins, those big butts? How will I ever be able to burn that stubborn fat? What about exercising?Well, I will answer that question. What I am going to revel to you is probably the biggest secret to sustained weight loss. It is so easy and effortless that you may even start doubting it. Here you go
"It does not matter how much calories you burn in 1 hour of work out, what counts is how much calories are burned in rest of the 23 hours."
You get two fold benefit from weight exercise. First, after a moderate intensity work out, your metabolic rate will be elevated for next 36 hours. Second, for every pound of muscle that you put on your body burns 50 extra calories for doing normal activities of the day. Say you put on 10 pounds of muscles than you will be burning 500 calories per day extra. Isn't that exciting? Here you are working out only 3days a week and doing nothing extra, not depriving yourself of the food you love and still achieving same results.
Most importantly it is the calories from fat that are being burnt because your muscles are doing the job for you. this way you ignite the calorie burning furnaces inside you. You will burn calories when you walk, eat, read , watch T.V. and even when you sleep. This phenomenon is known as RESTING METABOLISM. This, in essence, is the secret to the lasting weight loss. If you still want to do some running for the sake of of shear pleasure it brings, please do. Good thing is that you will burn more calories doing the same activity.

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